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Christopher Boan has been covering sports and sports betting for more than seven years, including stops at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.
Washington Commanders 2024 NFL Draft Odds: Who Will They Select at Pick 2?
Latest: The Washington Commanders selected Quarterback Jayden Daniels, 2023 Heisman Trophy winner out of LSU, with the second overall selection.
Now that the Super Bowl has come and gone at Virginia sportsbooks, it’s time for the NFL to shift from actual on-field action to the litany of personnel decisions that make the collective a year-round sport in the truest sense.
In the Nation’s Capital, the Washington Commanders are starting anew under owner Josh Harris, with head coach Ron Rivera ousted in favor of former Atlanta Falcons head coach and Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, who becomes the franchise’s fourth head coach since 2010.
Quinn takes over a club that went 4-13 in 2023, with an offense that ranked in the bottom half of the league in points per game scored and yards per game, with the NFL’s worst ranked defense in terms of points per game and yards per game allowed.
Luckily for first-year GM Adam Peters and his staff in Ashburn, the Commanders hold the second overall pick in April’s NFL Draft, with nine picks total in the seven-round spectacle that will take place in downtown Detroit April 25-27.
Ahead of this year’s draft, BetVirginia.com broke down some odds on which prospects Peters and Quinn might draft first when the Commanders get on the clock at No. 2 in 2024. Can a new signal-caller jumpstart the Commanders playoff chances next season? Time will tell.
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Jayden Daniels Now Heavy Favorite Ffr Commanders
The leading candidates to hear their names called by the Commanders are all elite college quarterbacks, with a pair of Heisman Trophy winners among the top three contenders to go at No. 2 in 2024, in D.C. native Caleb Williams of USC fame (+20000) and LSU’s Jayden Daniels, who is our No. 1 contender at -120. Daniels in the past month has seen his odds significantly shorten, as the reigning Heisman winner has impressed on the interview circuit and just worked out in front of Quinn and Commanders offensive coordinator Kilff Kingsbury at his pro day. Is it enough to warrant the No. 2 pick? At BetVirginia.com, he's the heavy leader in the clubhouse.
Daniels, who started his college career at Arizona State before transferring to Baton Rouge in 2022, also won the Walter Camp Award and was named the AP College Football Player of the Year in 2023, after throwing for 3,812 yards with 40 touchdowns (to four interceptions), with 1,134 rushing yards and 10 scores on the ground for the Tigers.
Williams prepped at Gonzaga Prep, which is a mere 10 miles from FedEx Field, and is considered by many draft experts to be the top prospect at any position in this year’s draft, after throwing for 10,082 yards and 93 touchdowns (to 14 interceptions) across 37 games at Oklahoma and USC between 2021 and 2023.
Unfortunately, the odds of Williams being available at No. 2 are about as long as the Commanders Super Bowl odds for next season.
The 22-year-old comes in behind both Daniels and Drake Maye of UNC, who is listed at +125 to be the next member of the Commanders QB room, after wrapping up a three-year run with the Tar Heels that saw him take home the ACC’s Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year awards in 2022, in addition to being a first-team All-ACC member in 2022 and a second team member in 2023.
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Commanders 2024 Team Needs in NFL Draft
According to NFLMockDraftDatabase.com, the Commanders’ top needs this draft cycle are at QB, offensive tackle, EDGE, tight end, linebacker, interior offensive line and wide receiver — with a trio of top caliber candidates to fill the first need, in Maye, Daniels and Williams.
Also of interest: How Do NFL Teams With No Pro Bowlers Perform The Next Season?
Current Commanders Depth Chart for Biggest Needs
The Commanders last season started another former Tar Heel at quarterback, in 23-year-old Sam Howell, who was a fifth-round pick in 2022 after being an All-ACC member in 2019 and 2020. Howell showed glimmers of promise last year, with 3,946 passing yards across 17 games, but had as many interceptions as touchdowns (21). He also took 65 sacks and battling through a slew of injuries in another dismal season in Landover. In the end, the Peters/Quinn regime decided to move on, trading Howell to the Seahwaks in mid-March and bringing in veteran Marcus Mariota on a one-year deal. While Mariota is respected around the NFL, his signing does little to sway the league from thinking the Commanders won't take a QB at No. 2.
Backing up Mariota is former Georgia signal caller Jake Fromm, who has appeared in three NFL games since being drafted in the fifth round of the 2020 NFL Draft, illustrating how much of a need Washington has at the QB position in 2024 and beyond. New Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury will more than likely have a new rookie to mentor next season.
At left and right tackle, Washington’s starters are Charles Leno Jr. and Andrew Wylie, who accumulated average value ratings (per Pro-Football-Reference.com) of 6 apiece in 2023. Backups Braeden Daniels (0 career AV) and Trent Scott (14 AV) are not reliable every-down starters in the NFL at the moment.
At EDGE, Washington has K.J. Henry, who notched 1.5 sacks and 14 solo tackles as a rookie in 2023, with an average value of 2. His backups, Joshua Pryor (0 AV in 7 games), Andre Jones Jr. (1 AV in 14 games) and Shaka Toney (2 AV in 26 NFL games), are untested in the trenches
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History of Commanders 1st-Round Draft Picks
The Commanders’ first-round history over the past decade has featured more lows than highs, with a total average value of 273 AV across 579 NFL games, led by 2015 fifth overall pick Brandon Scherff. He has posted 69 AV across 123 games, with five Pro Bowl appearances between 2015 and 2023.
Whichever prospect is picked second overall by Washington in 2024 will have sky-high expectations and the burden of guiding a woebegone franchise back to prominence, with a handful of college football’s brightest stars highlighting this year’s field of potential Commanders draft picks.
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Washington Commanders Draft FAQ
The Washington Commanders have the No. 2 overall pick in the NFL Draft, set for April 25-27 in Detroit. Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels are expected to be options for the team, while Caleb Williams is expected to go No. 1 to the Chicago Bears.
The 2024 NFL Draft will take place from April 25-27 around Detroit's Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza.
The Washington Commanders could use the No. 2 overall pick on a new franchise quarterback to replace Sam Howell, though USC's Caleb Williams is not expected to be available. UNC's Drake Maye or LSU's Jayden Daniels could be the pick for new GM Adam Peters.
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